Interview Coaching for Medical Students

Tag Archives: medical school interview

The University of Toronto Medical School Interviews begin soon and you must be prepared. The former MMI process has been replaced with the MPI or Modified Personal Interview which is considered a reliable means of assessing great future doctors. The candidate will interview in separate rooms with four different interviewers who are either faculty or medical doctors. Through questions asked you will be rated for maturity, communication skills, and interpersonal skills. You must be able to answer these questions with foresight, integrity and compassion.

TIPS on HOW to PRESENT YOURSELF
First impressions carry a lot of weight. Make sure you exude the look and temperament of the future doctor you want to be.Dress for the occasion: Be neat, comfortable but make sure you look professional and respectful. This is an important day.Be yourself – nerves and all. The point of the MPI is to find out who you are. Smile and make eye contact.Listen to the question asked and if unsure ask for clarification. Once you are certain of what is being asked take a moment to organise your thoughts before plunging in.Be honest. Elaboration makes a more interesting story but stick to the facts.This is your last chance. Everything rests on your performance here. Make sure you have prepared for this intense interview process with either 2 or 4 hours practise and understanding at the Career Council. Prepare to Crush it!

Interviewers from the top medical schools are responsible for getting the very best students into their program. This does not just mean the students with the highest marks, although only the top ranked students will be called in for an interview opportunity. What the schools are looking for are people who will complete the course and go on as representatives of the school that they have graduated from. The way in which interviewers can attempt to tell who will succeed in their program and who may not is through Behavioural Questions. This type of questioning will assess how you will perform in the future based on how you performed in the past.

Interviewers who ask behaviour descriptive questions are not interested in how you usually respond or might respond in the future. They want to know what you actually did. It’s important that you recall the situation you’re describing clearly and concisely and that your story reflects well on you as a potential employee.

Behaviour-descriptive questions help an interviewer assess how you will handle conditions you will likely encounter in a medical

career. For example, if the work requires good decision-making skills, the interviewer may ask you to describe a situation where you

had to choose between two strong options. The interviewer may follow up with specific questions about how you handled the

situation and what happened as a result of your actions.

Think of several situations in which you have used the skills that medicine requires (e.g. leadership skills, problem-solving skills,

communication skills). Choose situations where your actions contributed to a positive outcome. These situations do not have to be work-related—they could involve leisure activities, volunteer work or school projects.

Practise answering questions such as:
Why do you want to be a doctor?
What world event in the past decade made an impact on you and why?
What would people say about you as a doctor at the end of your career?
Describe how you dealt with an issue involving religion/beliefs.
How have you dealt with a challenging problem?
Tell about a time when you went above and beyond the call of duty.